A senior Iranian lawmaker has said that Iran is likely to call off its long-delayed gasoline rationing program, the local Iran News daily reported on Saturday.

"In view of the decline in gasoline consumption, the gasoline rationing plan is likely to be abandoned," deputy head of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Energy Committee Hossein Afarideh told the daily on Friday.

He said the obligatory use of smart cards by consumers and a 25 percent increase of pump price on May 22 have caused a 20 percent fall in gasoline consumption.

"Now, our domestic production and 2.5-billion-dollar imports could meet our annual needs," Afarideh said.

His remarks came two days after the rationing plan spokesman Mohammad Nasseri said the much-delayed program would take effect in next two weeks.

"I hope that the rationing plan will be able to start at the latest by June 21," Nasseri told Iran's local ISNA student news agency.

Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on Tuesday that rationing would be implemented "gradually and progressively," adding that there was still a "technical debate" over details.

According to the law passed by parliament, the rationing was meant to come into force on May 22, along with the price rises, but was then put off indefinitely.

Though being the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)'s second largest oil producer, Iran does not have enough refining capacity to meet its domestic gasoline needs. It has to import about 40 percent of its requirements.

Source: Xinhua